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What do tariffs and trade wars mean for your KiwiSaver?

Author
Nadine Higgins,
Publish Date
Mon, 17 Mar 2025, 2:16pm

What do tariffs and trade wars mean for your KiwiSaver?

Author
Nadine Higgins,
Publish Date
Mon, 17 Mar 2025, 2:16pm

Investors are being reminded 鈥渢his too shall pass鈥 as political and economic uncertainty continues to rattle US share markets.

The S&P500 is down about 10% from its highs earlier this year, and some KiwiSaver fund mangers are reporting an increase in investors opting to switch funds as they see the impact on their balances.

But portfolio manager at Milford Asset Management, Mark Riggall, told Nadine Higgins on , the Herald鈥檚 personal finance podcast, investors should be more focussed on their investment timeframe.

鈥淔or many people, that use for those funds is going to be many, many years away. So, doing something in the short term because you鈥檙e concerned about what鈥檚 going on might be detrimental to your long-term returns.鈥

鈥淥f course, pay attention, make sure you know what your fund manager鈥檚 doing and, how they鈥檙e positioned, but, by and large for KiwiSaver, it should be really easy to just to stay put.鈥

Riggall says while US markets are volatile, and could remain so for some time, it鈥檚 not all bad news.

鈥淭here are other parts of the world that are not faring so badly. Europe has been doing quite well this year, and in fact is up on the year. So, it鈥檚 a big contrast to what鈥檚 going on in the US.鈥

He says the nature of KiwiSaver funds and how they invest means there can also be benefits from dips in the market.

鈥淪o, for a retirement product like KiwiSaver where you鈥檙e contributing every month from your salary, that is (dollar cost) averaging it, right? You are buying more units of whichever fund you鈥檙e in, and if markets are volatile then you鈥檙e buying more units for the same dollars that you鈥檙e investing.

鈥淭hen over the long run, you should see price appreciation of these funds.鈥

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